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What is the FAFSA? Learn about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid #payday #loans #chicago

What is the FAFSA?

By Allen Grove. College Admissions Expert

Allen Grove is the former director of a program for new college students, a professor of English, and a freelance writer who focuses on college admissions, student success, and the transition from high school to college. Read more

Question: What is the FAFSA?

If you want financial aid, you ll need to fill out the FAFSA. This FAQ will help explain what the FAFSA is all about.

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All federal grant and loan awards are determined by the FAFSA, and nearly all colleges use the FAFSA as the basis for their own financial aid awards.

The FAFSA is managed by the Office of Federal Student Aid, part of the Department of Higher Education. The Office of Federal Student Aid processes roughly 14 million financial aid applications a year and disburses about $80 billion in financial aid.

The FAFSA application should take about one hour to fill out, but this is only if you have all the necessary documents at hand before you begin.

Some applicants get frustrated with the application process because they do not have ready access to all necessary tax forms and bank statements, so be sure to plan ahead before you sit down to complete your FAFSA.

The FAFSA requires information in five categories:

Information about the student

Information about the student’s dependency status

Information about the student’s parents

Information about the student’s finances

A list of the schools that should receive the results of the FAFSA

Students can fill out the FAFSA online at the FAFSA website. or they can apply through the mail with a paper form.

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Again, any financial aid award begins with the FAFSA, so be sure to complete the form before the deadlines for the schools to which you’ve applied. Realize that most state deadlines are much earlier than the June 30th federal deadline. Read more about the timing of your FAFSA application here: When Should You Submit the FAFSA?